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Starting a Digital Business in Manchester in 2018 – Top Tips

In 2017 450,000 new businesses were formed throughout the United Kingdom. So far this year in 2018 350,000 have already been set up.

Manchester is an excellent place to consider starting your new business, we have an abundance of cheap office space, there are superb transport links, and do not forget Manchester’s world beating universities assure you of a large pool of very talented potential employees.

One of the real big factors that makes Manchester streets ahead of the rest is the enterprise spirit and the massive innovation that has fueled our city’s growth since the early years during the Industrial Revolution.

There are a variety of things to consider if you are thinking of beginning a business in Manchester. You would be very wise to ensure that you use all of the resources that are available to you in Manchester, and you need to consider what will give you the edge over your competition in Manchester’s competitive and rapidly moving and changing business environment.

This Manchester guide gives you some key areas to consider for start-ups,; these including networking, available support and of course financing.

Support for your new business in Manchester

There is a variety of different organisations in Manchester that can advise and assist you with a vast range of tasks involved in setting up your new business ranging from creating your business plan through to recruiting personnel and then company growth plans.

There is the ask about business service within Manchester library and this is an excellent place for you to begin your journey. Within the library is the online business resource called Cobra that contains masses of information on Manchester the local business economy, business opportunities and you can also arrange to have appointments with professionals at the library to go through your business plans and your start-up aspirations

the UK government also runs a valuable service called business Link, and this is an excellent resource for budding entrepreneurs and existing entrepreneurs that can guide you on a wide range of things to growth planning, human resources accounting through to health and safety.

Also consider becoming a Chamber of Commerce in Manchester member, within the Chamber of Commerce is a massive pool of experience and advice, there is training and also special events that can help you network seek assistance and help your business to become a success.

Financing your business in Manchester

The government offers a wide range of different grants and there are also other publicly for and privately funded organisations that can help you to launch a start-up and get off the ground.

Business networking

Business networking is one of the fundamentals in starting, growing and generating new business. Going to networking events isn’t just a good way to keep ahead of trends in your industry other local business economy but it is a brilliant way to make new business contacts that you otherwise would not have met.

You could run into a potential investor or even a perfect potential employee or you may find the supplier of your dreams at one of these events.

Consider the Manchester business breakfast club, although there is a paid monthly subscription of about £50 plus VAT if you want to attend these meetings, this can pay dividends greatly because everyone who attends by virtue of the fact that they have paid to attend is keen to do business help other businesses and get business themselves.

There is also eventbright.com which will show vast range of different events that are running in your local area and in the niche is and business areas that you operate within.

There is the northern digital meet up that a perfect creative businesses in Manchester, and we can only emphasise once again how worthwhile paying the membership fees are and attending all these meats religiously.

It is not about dishing out your business card to every single person there without engaging conversation, this is pretty much a bad idea in our opinion. The best way to garner new business from events such as this is to attend regularly, be personable, have your two-minute pitch waiting on the tip of your time at all times, have a 2nd pitch where you can explain exactly what your business does and you even need to build to explain your businesses purpose and offering in one sentence.

A one sentence pitch is a very strong proposition when speaking to a new possible lead as you can potentially gain their interest right from the start. Do not be disheartened if you come away from your first few meetings thinking I didn’t get any business and I wasted two hours of my time going to those meetings is it worth going again, it probably is worth persevering, and make sure that you build on the social meet ups possibly expand into other networking groups and if you put the hard-working, as with anything else, then you will see dividends from this approach.

Social media marketing company based in Manchester, Social Chain Group has just purchased the digital agency, Glow Artists in a bid to further strengthen their strong market dominance. The deal was done between Glow artists parent company Glow media group Germany and Social chain. Glow artists are also a social media influencer agency.

The group currently works with a portfolio of over 400 multi channel brands spread across social media platforms and with the purchase of Glow artists they will be extending their influencer capabilities very significantly which will be of benefit to Manchester as a whole as dominating in a digital niche can only benefit the city as a whole.

Glow artists was initially launched in German in 2014 by Holger hansen and Georg Kofler, then they set up a sub company in the UK in 2015, a quick expansion indeed. By 2017 Glow artists talent pool had a massive total of alost 10 million subscribers on You Tube which provided them with a significant reach in the marketing arena.

As a result of the deal, the Social chain group will be able to offer its clients an ever wider opportunity to engage with different talent and the flip side is they will provide Glow artists talent to have more and better opportunities.

Steve Bartlett, chief executive of Social Chain Group stated ‘there are many parallels with the two companies. Both companies known social media well and also how to engage youth audiences”

‘it therefore made a large amount of sense for the companies to combine and work together’

In the immortal words from the Frontman of Manchester legends the Stone Roses, Ian Brown, once said very simply why Manchester should never be underestimated:

“Manchester’s got everything except a beach.”

Manchester is pioneering the way forward in the Digital Age

Fast moving developments in the world of technology have meant that ever more companies are doing business online and also promoting online. This goes without saying for any forward thinking company due to the amount of potential offered online. This massive growth has fed the requirement for digital savvy people to fill these niches and provide skills for the digital age.

A recent survey from the National Institute for Economic an Social research stated that there are over 260,000 companies that form the hub of the digital economy in the UK, and it states that the governments far more modest recent estimates are ‘out of date’.

Manchester’s economic progress reflects this huge growth and the citys digital economy is set to create 25,000 jobs during the next ten years.

This is ever since the famous Alan Turing and his lab team at Manchester University helped develop the modern computer from the ‘manchester baby’ in 1948 . Since that time Manchester has been given over £3.5 billion to build a global hub for creative employees.

Technology from education

Education for these growing industries has not been overlooked, with Manchester having 3 high quality universities, that house over 7000 creative and new media students and more than 6000 who are engaged in computer based studies.

Mediacity is hosting students from Salford University and allows them to polish their skills in SEO, new media , PR and much more.

London isn’t the only success story for Digital!

Graduates of digital industries are attracted to Manchester because of it’s fast growing status and the fact it is much cheaper than London to live in, with the same potential for success. A win win!

Mediacity for example is Manchester equivalent of Hackneys silicon roundabout, but it has much more buzz about it and the creative spark here is huge!

This is partly no doubt due to the more affordable cost of office space in Manchester combined with the big cities access to big clients, on a similar scale to London. Of course, the other fact is that digital business is not geographically restricted, hence companies in Manchester can still work with many clients who are based in London. This is more appealing to the London companies as well, due to a lesser cost.

Manchesters ambition and heavy funding

the large amount of government and PFi in recent years has been a big factor in Manchesters digital economy growth. In October last year, over £1 million was gifted to the city as part of the governments Strategy technology board which is a £25 million financing scheme for tech startups.

Manchester has held these opportunities with the swagger you would expect from such a vibrant and buzzing digital city. Manchester is also big in Social Media agencies such as the highly successful Social Chain

Manchester for business , and walking

Manchester is a fantastic location from which to explore the remainder of the UK in between studies or Business Meetings. There is a whopping 4 national parks that are within 60 minutes drive from the centre of Manchester and Manchester Airport has a huge number of daily flights serving over 200 global destinations.

In the thriving North West of England lives one of Europes largest regional economies at £120 billion, and it is a massive venue for the creative industries. Web Development in Manchester and SEO Manchester are two trending industries that come to mind.

Manchester is a thriving Digital Hub and is second in terms of quality of SEO and Web Design agencies when compared to London, with Leeds a close 3rd and Sheffield in a competitive 4th place, due to the size of the cities mainly rather than quality of agencies there. Many Manchester digital companies are based in MediaCity located in Greater Manchester, which is also home to the BBC and around 50 other creative and digital agency style companies.

As a wind down for the Digital and Creative industries in Manchester is a vast range of beautiful countryside located not far from the centre of Manchester.

The Peak District

The peaks are the first national park of Britain, and they cover a huge area in the centre of the UK, which starts a short distance east of Manchester’s outer city limits. The Moorlands and rolling hills make way for glorious meadows , forests and streams in the middle of which are some of the prettiest little villages in the UK.

The Peak District is fantastic for outdoor pursuits fans, and there are many hiking trails and treks in the peaks. There is also the newly opened, amazingly cool GoApe which is an adventurers playground that is located high in the tops of a forest!

If you prefer a more sedate experience in the countryside thats not a problem, with a large number of stately homes that are open to the public, with a top contender being the newly refurbished (external gold leafing and stonework) and magnificent Chatsworth House.

Or you could choose to spend your time getting some aerial photos from the knee wobbling highs of the cable car at the Heights of Abraham CountryPark.

The Beautiful lake District

Turn to the North West of Manchester and you are looking at Cumbria, which is home to the amazing lake district. As it’s name implies, this region is famous primarily for its large number of lakes and the surrounding mountains and views are stunning.

The Lakes are in fact the 2nd biggest national park in the whole of the UK. They are the home of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England and also some of the countries largest lakes. This areas fantastic, unspoiled natural beauty attracts millions of visitors each and every year with some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the UK here.

Naturally, you can take a boat ride in the Lakes and cruise the towns, enjoying some of the local life and scenery. Then, at the end of the day you can explore the multitude of quaint, replacing pubs and test out some of their fines ales (or wines!).

The Lakes has been the inspiration for several very famous writers, notably William Wordsworth and the venerable Beatrix Potter, and you can visit the houses that they lived in and also where they wrote their most famous work.

Both of these locations are set in wonderfully quaint villages, which are explorable on foot and you can find many lovely typical British tea shops to stop off and sample tea and cakes in, or head to a local pub and sample some of Cumbria’s best pub grub!

Northern Wales

With Welsh being one of the oldest languages in the whole of the EU, the wonderful land it came from has also retained a lot of it’s oldy worldy charm.

From exploring the places of historical interest, to going to the sea side, to walking in proper mountains, wales has it all! Usually with a fair sprinkling of rain added in too.

The Pembrokeshire coastline is famous for its awe inspiring landscape and there is plenty on offer for water sports fans. Back in the hills, Wales is also home to the famous Mount Snowden, which is the highest peak in Wales.

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Frequent and past Manchester Dwellers who want to enlighten other people about what Manchester has to offer!